I have a Steam copy but Iíve never used it, Iíve always just played through the normal Frontier launcher.

Does playing the game through Steam have any performance penalties? Are there any differences at all? Iíd like to just let Steam auto update my game while Iím at work, then Iíd be able to play on patch days as soon as I got home instead of waiting for the Frontier launcher to do its thing!

The only difference is that Steam is faster downloading updates. You can even start your Steam ED installation without using Steam. Simply go to the install folder and create a shortcut to your desktop.

I have a Steam copy but I’ve never used it, I’ve always just played through the normal Frontier launcher.

Does playing the game through Steam have any performance penalties? Are there any differences at all? I’d like to just let Steam auto update my game while I’m at work, then I’d be able to play on patch days as soon as I got home instead of waiting for the Frontier launcher to do its thing!

I use both a steam and frontier version (2 accounts). Performance wise there is zero difference and if you have set custom HUD colours in the graphics override file you get the HUD changes in both (keybinds are also shared between both)

To reply to the OP:
As others have said the Steam client may get the update slightly behind the Frontier launcher but the speed it updates is lightyears ahead compared to the Frontier launcher.

It feels like it reinstalls the whole game everytime it updates (steam takes under 5 mins, Frontiers takes a minimum of 25 mins I find)

To reply to the OP:
As others have said the Steam client may get the update slightly behind the Frontier launcher but the speed it updates is lightyears ahead compared to the Frontier launcher.

It feels like it reinstalls the whole game everytime it updates (steam takes under 5 mins, Frontiers takes a minimum of 25 mins I find)

Thanks - My question was essentially if Steam gets the update as soon as the servers go off-line and then wander from player to player saying "Here's an update for you" or if Steam had to wait for the servers to come on-line before they're allowed to even start handing you the update. Turns out they have to wait until the servers go live first.

As stated in the OP I'm on DSL so my update takes several hours (depending on the size - Q2 and Q3 weren't that big but Q1 was huge and I expect Q4 is big enough where I should go cut the lawn all day, have dinner, watch a movie, and at 11 PM go to bed and by breakfast the next day it'll just about be done).

Thanks - My question was essentially if Steam gets the update as soon as the servers go off-line and then wander from player to player saying "Here's an update for you" or if Steam had to wait for the servers to come on-line before they're allowed to even start handing you the update. Turns out they have to wait until the servers go live first.

As stated in the OP I'm on DSL so my update takes several hours (depending on the size - Q2 and Q3 weren't that big but Q1 was huge and I expect Q4 is big enough where I should go cut the lawn all day, have dinner, watch a movie, and at 11 PM go to bed and by breakfast the next day it'll just about be done).

Ahh ok. No the game update we can download always comes quite late in the day - both for steam and none steam.

Ive generally found that the patches start to appear to download around 30 mins to an hour before the servers pop back up (which is usually around 5-5.30pm UK time (12-12.30pm for the East Coast US).

Steam just tends to be the last platform to get the patch available to download but its usually only 10-20 mins later than the Frontier launcher.

Edit: Ive also found restarting steam sometimes helps to kick start the download - if your able too keep an eye on here and people will post when the update actually appears to download

Edit: Ive also found restarting steam sometimes helps to kick start the download - if your able too keep an eye on here and people will post when the update actually appears to download

Absolutely correct on that last point - that was why I asked in the first place. I'd see "Yay! The servers are back up." and nothing from Steam yet. 20 minutes....30 minutes....40 minutes. Finally restarted the computer and once Steam restarts "Wow, there it is finally!!!" It's usually cued up for download at a point 2 hours away and I nudge it to start immediately.

This time I'll be home so I'll check on the forums and instead of restarting the entire PC I'll just exit and re-start Steam every few minutes which should provide the needed "nudge".